| Stack's Bowers Galleries (& Ponterio) > January 2024 NYINC Auction | Auction date: 12 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 53246 Price realized: 2,800 USD (Approx. 2,553 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: LATIN AMERICA. "Poyais". Gold Order of the Green Cross, "Instituted" 1819. ALMOST UNCIRCULATED. Diameter: 70mm; Weight: 36.65 gms. Three hallmarks on ball finials. Obverse: Green enameled cross on white enameled background; all within green enameled ring with gold enameled text: GREGORIUS FUNDAVIT / MDCCCXIX; all set upon white enameled cross fleuree, with gold outlining and ball finials on each point; Reverse: Same as obverse, with text instead reading: IN LIBERTATE SOCIORUM DEFENDENDA. Ring attached at top, with green ribbon. Some minor chipping to the enameling, but still with great vibrancy throughout. An EXTREMELY RARE offering of a bogus order of chivalry from a "micronation" that never existed. While the idea of micronations is nothing new, and is generally a more playful venture, this has not always been the case. A primary example is the case of the Scottish born adventurer, Gregor MacGregor. While in Latin America, serving as a soldier of fortune in Columbia and Venezuela, MacGregor found himself in Honduras in 1820, falsely claiming that he had inherited some eight million acres of land from George Frederick Augustus I, the titular King of the "Mosquito Shore and Nation." MacGregor then returned to London, whereupon he began styling himself as "Gregorius I, Cazique of the Independent State of Poyais." What ensued was a number of schemes to defraud unwitting individuals who believed him to be legitimate. An example of his many frauds is this order of chivalry, noting an institution that, in fact, never existed. A rather remarkable instance, as such a defrauding and misrepresentation could be considered anything but chivalrous. Estimate: $1500 - $3000 |  |
